Polymerizable liquid crystal compositions serve as useful components of optically anisotropic bodies, and optically anisotropic bodies are applied to, for example, polarizing films and retardation films in a variety of liquid crystal displays. Polarizing films and retardation films are produced by applying a polymerizable liquid crystal composition onto a substrate; drying the solvent; aligning the molecules of the polymerizable liquid crystal composition with, for instance, an alignment film; and curing the polymerizable liquid crystal composition in this state through application of heat or irradiation with active energy rays. It is known that using a polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal composition in which a chiral compound has been added to a polymerizable liquid crystal composition enables production of a circular polarization splitter, and application thereof to a brightness-enhancing film has been studied.
Such polymerizable liquid crystal compositions are generally applied onto glass substrates, plastic substrates, or alignment films optionally formed on these substrates; in the case where the polymerizable liquid crystal compositions are used in the above-mentioned polarizing films, retardation films, or brightness-enhancing films, a film to be formed through heating of the applied composition or irradiation thereof with active energy rays needs to have a transparency. A film formed through application of a polymerizable liquid crystal composition produced by dissolution of a polymerizable liquid crystal compound and a photopolymerization initiator in a solvent, however, causes defective alignment in many cases and therefore has a large haze value, which results in a problem in which only a film having a poor transparency is produced.
A technique for addressing such a problem has been reported, in which a fluorine compound is added to a polymerizable liquid crystal composition to improve molecular alignment and reduce haze; however, transparency is still insufficient (see Patent Literatures 1 and 2).